Fright of my life!
- Thread starter tiguardo
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
hippy guy
Aquarium Advice Addict
Do you use flourish exel? I've read that, along with providing a carbon source, it also kills algea, and anacris really really well. Maybe a day or so with this will clear you right up. Also, how close to a window are you?
hippy guy said:
I don't, but I'll look into that. The tank is about 20 feet from my window & gets no direct sunlight. It's also where my previous tank was positioned & I didn't get algae in that one, so am thinking it's unlikely to be the cause.
About a month after cycling I had quite a lot of brown diatoms, which then disappeared when this green water showed up. May be a silly question but, can algae change how it manifests itself??
hippy guy
Aquarium Advice Addict
Idk, but maybe algea needs another preexisting to form, kinda like the bio filter bacteria
Shadowraven
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Green water is the result of a protist bloom normally caused by excessive nutrients in the tank. Green water is not always an evil. In moderation, many fish actually seem to benefit from it according to Dr. Innes. Green water often occurs naturally in nature anyway. Think of some of the ponds you've seen.
The problem begins if the green water gets to the stage where it starts to get "soupy" or thick. At this point the protists can suddenly use up all the nutrients in the tank. When this happens, it triggers a massive die-off and decomposition of the organisms, taking much of the oxygen with it. The warning sign is when the green water turns yellow. If this occurs, minutes count and a massive water change becomes necessary. From what you've stated, you don't seem to be too near this stage yet.
Since this problem is caused by too many nutrients in the tank, you can do something about it. Usually a good, thorough tank cleaning, with a water change, can take care of the problem. Sunlight getting into the tank can contribute to the problem as well.
If you have a good group of healthy plants, they will out-compete the protists for nutrients. But for their health, you don't want to cut the light back too much. 8-9 hours a day should be good enough.
The link that Mr. Limpet gave you is a good one to follow if you want to kill the organisms involved, but it isn't dealing with the root cause of the problem. If that is not dealt with, the problem can return.
The problem begins if the green water gets to the stage where it starts to get "soupy" or thick. At this point the protists can suddenly use up all the nutrients in the tank. When this happens, it triggers a massive die-off and decomposition of the organisms, taking much of the oxygen with it. The warning sign is when the green water turns yellow. If this occurs, minutes count and a massive water change becomes necessary. From what you've stated, you don't seem to be too near this stage yet.
Since this problem is caused by too many nutrients in the tank, you can do something about it. Usually a good, thorough tank cleaning, with a water change, can take care of the problem. Sunlight getting into the tank can contribute to the problem as well.
If you have a good group of healthy plants, they will out-compete the protists for nutrients. But for their health, you don't want to cut the light back too much. 8-9 hours a day should be good enough.
The link that Mr. Limpet gave you is a good one to follow if you want to kill the organisms involved, but it isn't dealing with the root cause of the problem. If that is not dealt with, the problem can return.
Shadowraven said:
Thank you for your help. I gave my filter a good clean last night (in tank water) & have started on the path of 10% daily PWC's. My plants are doing well & things are a little clearer tonight. I've cut back to feeding once a day, from two & things are probably 90% better than before.
I am going to add more planting over next couple of weeks, which hopefully will compete well for the nutrients. The water is definitely not thick or soupy. On pouring into a bathtub when doing PWC's its got a light green tinge to it. At the beginning it was like a pea green colour!
An update...
I've been doing 10% PWC's over the past three days & have upped my lighting duration over the past 2 days. MASSIVE improvement today
It was more cloudy than green yesterday & then I came down this morning to a glorious sight! Think I will keep up the 10% PWC's over the next week, but I'm hoping that, with some great AA advice, I'm on the right track.
I've been doing 10% PWC's over the past three days & have upped my lighting duration over the past 2 days. MASSIVE improvement today
It was more cloudy than green yesterday & then I came down this morning to a glorious sight! Think I will keep up the 10% PWC's over the next week, but I'm hoping that, with some great AA advice, I'm on the right track.
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